Big Trouble for Little Birds

Big Trouble for Little Birds

Jan. 12, 2015 - Franz Josef Land is home to 50 species of seabirds. One of them, the little auk, has seen a drop in body mass in recent years. Enric Sala and the Pristine Seas team investigate the possible causes to help save the species.

Enric: I am Enric Sala, leader of
this National Geographic Pristine Seas expedition to the Russian Arctic. Franz Josef Land is home to 50 species of
seabirds, and almost all of them depend on the ocean for food. Here on Brosch Island, we find a thriving
population of Little Auks. They kind of look like penguins that can fly. There must be 1000s here. They seem to be adapting well to their
changing environment. Because of the
lack of sea ice, they don’t have to fly as far to find their food, a kind of
plankton. But our study shows that the
average body mass of adult little auks has decreased by 4%, and we don’t know
why.

This
is a plankton net. It captures small
organisms, like the plankton the little auks eat. Biologist Daria Martinova is keen to examine the
samples.

Plankton are tiny creatures that
form the bottom of the food chain, and are an intricate part of the ecosystem.

But Daria is finding something
unusual.

Daria: I'm focusing on planktonic
crustaceans:

Enric: She’s finding plankton known to
thrive in the Arctic Ocean. But she’s
also found one here that comes from further south —in the Atlantic.

Daria: This one is warm water guy.

Enric: It’s made its way north because
of climate change.

The problem is that the Atlantic
plankton looks like the Arctic kind—which is the main food for the little
auks.

The seabirds can’t tell the
difference.

But the warm water plankton are
smaller; and provide less energy for the little birds. This could account for the little auk’s
smaller body mass, but it’ll take more testing to know for certain. What we do know is that this is just one
example of how the environment is changing and we have a lot more work to do to
understand what exactly the Arctic is becoming.

Big Trouble for Little Birds

Jan. 12, 2015 - Franz Josef Land is home to 50 species of seabirds. One of them, the little auk, has seen a drop in body mass in recent years. Enric Sala and the Pristine Seas team investigate the possible causes to help save the species.